


Speaking of Growing Up

by hernobleness



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Because everyone headcanons Frederick as the talk-giver, Childhood, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Growing Up, Humor, Sweet Ending, The Talk, manhood, no worries nothing graphic, you do too don't lie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 16:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13298442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernobleness/pseuds/hernobleness
Summary: In which Chrom is a growing boy, Emmeryn is a concerned parent, Frederick is a very uncomfortable retainer, and Vaike is that one friend who knows way too much about shaking the sheets.In other words, it's time for Frederick to give Chrom "the talk."





	Speaking of Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> Thinking of Dad!Frederick as Emmeryn's sidekick makes me really happy.

The doors to the throne room thudded shut behind Frederick as he entered the grand hall, the green tapestries and stone columns bathed in happy, early morning sunlight. Exalt Emmeryn stood ahead of him at her throne, a polite smile on her face.

She always did manage to preface her requests with a smile. That, Frederick realized as he made his way towards her, was one of the many things he’d come to appreciate about serving her in the year since he’d come of age.

Turning 18 was typically a day most boys celebrated for the reason that they could legally visit the pubs in town. He’d simply been happy to be old enough to officially serve as a personal guard - regardless of the fact that he’d been doing it unofficially since he was only 14.

It seemed getting older did have its benefits.

As he reached the throne before the exalt, Frederick bowed politely at the waist.

“You called for me, Your Grace?”

Emmeryn smiled a bit wider, the delicate beam of an angel as she replied gently, “Yes, Frederick. Thank you for coming so quickly.”

The knight nodded in acknowledgement. It was only natural for him to come at the drop of a hat, be it the middle of breakfast time or no.

“It’s about Chrom.”

Hm. Frederick wasn’t unused to getting requests from the exalt about her younger siblings. Quite the opposite, actually. He wondered what it would be regarding Chrom this time. Perhaps something to do with his training regimen that Frederick had been assisting the prince in, though he doubted Exalt Emmeryn had much interest in such matters.

Rather than jump to conclusions, he patiently listened.

“You see, my younger brother is…” Emmeryn continued, though she hesitated. Her pale eyes jumped to the side, carefully thinking over her words. Eventually, she let out a small laugh. “Well, he’s not nearly so young as he used to be!”

The young boy who Frederick had known as a seven year old was -- it was definitely fair to say -- most certainly a bit older now. Before their eyes, he’d grown a foot in height and five years in age.

“He’s almost a man now,” mused Emmeryn, a hint of sadness in her voice. Her eyes still wouldn’t meet Frederick’s, drooping instead to the carpets below them in thought. “This is the time where our father would’ve taken him aside. He’d have explained to him the… responsibilities of manhood, what it means to be older and what to expect…”

The exalt finally looked up at her knight expectantly, jarring him a bit. Was he supposed to reply? He wasn’t exactly sure where she was going with this topic...

Respectfully, he said, “I’m afraid I’m not following, Your Grace.”

Emmeryn gathered herself with a small breath, her white robes rising and falling with her as she sighed and steadied herself. “Frederick, there is no man in this realm that Chrom looks up to save you. For eight years, our father has been dead, and Chrom has almost no memory of him. We’ve no uncles or close friends of the family. Besides you, there’s no proper role model to guide him through this time in his life.”

Frederick found himself touched. That the exalt herself would deem him a worthy role model to the prince, but moreover that the young prince should look up to _him_ of all people -- of all the generals and nobles surrounding him… Though he supposed none of them spent their time training him, planning his meals, washing the stains out of his clothes when he got into mischief with that _Vaike_.

He supposed he was touched, shocked, and… perhaps a bit happy to hear that his efforts with Chrom weren’t unnoticed.

But it seemed Emmeryn wasn’t quite finished. “I’m worried,” she continued, her brows sinking and pinching -- an eerily similar look to Chrom and Lissa’s. “There are certain things that only-… that only another man could properly explain to him.”

Frederick paused, trying desperately once more to grasp the meaning of her words. What ‘manly things’ could she be referring to? Perhaps this really _was_ regarding Chrom’s training...

“If milady is referring to combat techniques, I must object,” said Frederick, a bit indignantly. He’d sparred with enough of the Pegasus Knights to know that they could certainly train and be trained just as well as any of the men. Phila, especially, could truly pack a punch... “There are plenty of women who-”

“I am not referring to combat techniques, Frederick,” the exalt interrupted him before he could get going.

A long pause followed in which Emmeryn stared her knight down. He felt as though he were missing something obvious, as though she were waiting for him to draw a clear conclusion. But he found himself still utterly perplexed. Chrom was growing up, he needed to be taught male things by a male. Hunting, perhaps?

With a pained expression, Emmeryn began her dance around the topic once more. “Chrom has been making quite a few friends of the fairer sex lately,” she stated hesitantly. “And I don’t think a person in the castle doesn’t see the way he moons over the pegasus knights!”

Coming of age, male role models, female friends… Just what was she looking for from Frederick?

“You wish for me to…” he began to ask, hoping an ending to the sentence would come to him. Of age, role models, things only known by men, mooning after…

Oh.

Oh!

Shocked, Frederick let out a scandalized gasp. _“Your Grace!”_

Emmeryn was quick to reply, apologetic as ever, but nevertheless unrelenting. “Know that I would not ask this of you if I didn’t think it absolutely necessary for my brother. I worry for him, Frederick! _Someone_ must explain these things to him.”

 _Yes, but should that someone not be a certified educator? Or at least someone with practical knowledge?_ These were the questions Frederick wished to ask, but he held his tongue in respect for the exalt.

“I know my brother. He’d simply disregard any of his tutors, and he’d never want to hear such things from me. Lissa is different, but Chrom… I want him to grow up to be a good man, a respectful and kind one. He needs to hear these things from a man who not only fits that example, but also one whom he respects and looks up to.”

As much as Frederick hated it at the moment, it wasn’t as though he could say no to his liege. Not when she asked so kindly, flattered him with such compliments, and not when she did have the only prince’s best interests at heart. One wrong move with a subject so delicate, and young Chrom could be driven to philandering and lechery.

“Please, Frederick. I know it’s a delicate and uncomfortable subject, and if you truly can’t bring yourself to discuss it with him, I will understand. But-”

“I am happy to oblige, milady.”

Loathe as he was to do so, he’d take the challenge onto himself. With so much on the line, it wasn’t as though he could trust anyone else with the task! 

How hard could it be?

* * *

Not an hour later, Frederick found himself standing before the doors of the prince’s bedroom. He’d motivated himself with the motto “Simply get it over with, quick and easy,” but he now found himself doubting the validity of that statement.

After a deep breath, he let his knuckles rap on the white, ornate frame of the door, each knock building up more regret in his stomach. When Chrom appeared at the door, his training gear on his barely-toned young frame, the outlook on the “quick and easy” front seemed to go out the window.

Frederick realized he had no idea what to say or even where to begin. He couldn’t very well say outright, “ _Good morning, milord. I’ve come to talk to you about intercourse.”_

“Frederick?”

Chrom’s voice grabbed the nervous knight’s attention and pulled it down to the doorframe, where he stood with eyes wide and boring into Frederick’s impatiently.

Frederick cleared his throat -- and with it his mind, as best he could. He took an inconspicuous breath. In, out… This was nothing to fear.

“Milord,” he greeted Chrom just as he normally would. “A moment?”

“I was just on my way to meet Vaike and Sully!” the prince complained, though he stepped back from the door and granted his knight entrance nonetheless. Turning his back, he went straight to his bed and began to put on his wrist guards. A bag lay open on his bed with a water bottle and some food, presumably to help sustain him through the day of sparring with his friends.

Frederick almost felt guilty knowing the damper he was about to put on the boy’s morning.

“It’s a matter of rather dire importance,” said Frederick as he stepped into the bedroom, closing the door gently behind him. He found himself near blinded by the sun reflecting off so many decorative swords and shields, only adding to his feeling of being a deer caught in the torchlight. “Your sister has asked me to speak with you.”

Chrom immediately froze, his wrist guard only half secured as his eyes worriedly shot up and to Frederick. “Emm? What’s wrong? If this is about that hole in the wall, I told you I covered it up really-!”

“No, milord, nothing is amiss,” Frederick assured him. He took another steadying breath. Here it came... “Please, sit.”

With a confused look, Chrom sank down to his bed and stared expectantly at Frederick.

He thought he’d calmed himself enough, prepared himself enough mentally, but the awkwardness of the situation hit him all over again, and the words eluded him once more. “You… Ahem. Now, see…”

Somewhere between Frederick’s deep, preparatory breaths and throat clearings, Chrom’s blue eyes had thinned even more in confusion, now more accusing than anything else.

This childish expression served, somehow, to bring the knight back to his senses. What a fool he must look like, stuttering and panicking over such a subject! He was only making it worse and _more_ uncomfortable. If he was to be a role model, as Lady Emmeryn had said, he’d need to pull himself together.

Finally, Frederick found the wherewithal to begin anew, to begin _right._

“Your sister has bid I have a small discussion with you, of sorts. You see, you’re reaching a… tender age in which most young men begin to notice changes -- with their bodies, and… with their feelings…”

Well, mostly right.

Realization smacked Chrom over the head like a sack of bricks, and his face immediately went sour.

“Oh, gods! You can’t be serious!” he cried. He shot a dramatic glance towards his packed bag and the wrist guard he hadn’t managed to put on, hoping to make a point. “Can’t this wait?”

“I’m afraid not,” replied Frederick, finding his stone cold rhythm once more. Now that he’d gotten started, he would be damned if he wouldn’t see it through.

Chrom, however, wasn’t going down without a fight. “You don’t want to do this either!” he accused Frederick. An intuitive one he was… “Just tell Emm you told me everything, and we both get off free!”

“Like it or not, Lady Emmeryn is right,” Frederick insisted sternly. “These are important things for a young man to know -- a prince, no less. We must think of this as merely an advanced from of your etiquette lessons. Except now, the topic extends beyond _dancing_ with women and into…”

Frederick faltered. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d been planning to bring that sentence to a close, but the moderately disgusted expression on Chrom’s face said he already had drawn his own conclusion.

“Ahem,” the knight cleared his throat once more, opting to simply brush past the blunder and hope it would be forgotten. “So we shall both endure this discussion. Now, as you’ve probably already noticed, you’re going to begin having _urges_ …”

* * *

 

Forty-five minutes and one thoroughly uncomfortable conversation later, Chrom had been freed from his agony. Though he wasn’t leaving without a damp expression of discomfort and mild disgust.

Frederick followed the prince out of his room, or at least he’d intended to when the grating voice of a familiar friend of Chrom’s met his ears.

“Heyo, Chrom!” came the obnoxious yell of Vaike, the latest addition to the prince’s group of friends.

Sully, Frederick could approve of. Stahl as well. The two of them worked very hard with the other knights. But thinking back on Exalt Emmeryn’s discussion of “good role models” for Chrom, the former village ruffian and shamelessly informal Vaike didn’t seem to fit the bill.

“Ready to get crushed down at the training grounds?”

The knight waited back as Vaike clapped a hand on Chrom’s shoulder, presumably to rough him up a bit as a friendly gesture. Chrom, however, flinched back like he’d been bitten.

Frederick wouldn’t be eager for human contact after their discussion either...

“Whoa!” Vaike laughed heartily. “What’s the matter with you?”

Quickly and quietly, Chrom replied, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

With a nod, Vaike thankfully seemed to understand and took a step back. “Yeah, yeah, that’s good. No yappin’! I’ll let my axe do all the talking.”

The two boys made their way down the hall, and Frederick thought it appropriate to be on his way as well. However, as he entered the hallway, he found they hadn’t made it far at all.

“I tell ya, Chrom,” Vaike began in a booming voice. “This is the day I finally win! I’ve got a burning _urge_ to really let ya have it today.”

Frederick’s stomach sank in sympathy for Chrom as the poor choice of words sent the boy’s ears turning red.

“Now, I see ya got your _sword sheathed_ there, but don’t worry. I can get it outta there for ya.” Vaike continued to speak with such suggestive words, and it quickly became clear it was intentional as he leaned in towards Chrom and said in a low voice, “And I’ll handle it with the ‘utmost _tenderness and respect_.’”

“Naga!” Chrom shot away from his friend like a bullet, offended and embarrassed.

Under normal circumstances, Frederick would’ve scolded the prince for using the holy dragon’s name in vain, but he found himself very much inclined to stay silent. This was a conversation he had neither desire nor obligation to join.

Vaike let out a boisterous laugh, booming through the halls. “Bwahaha! Heard every word through the door, mate!” he shouted with amusement, like he couldn’t believe the luck he was having at being able to hold this over Chrom’s head. In an unexpected twist, however, he placed an arm around Chrom’s shoulder, leaning in and trying to be quiet. “Wasn’t bad, but he left a few things out. Now pay attention, ‘cause this is where it gets interesting…”

That Vaike was a bad seed indeed. But Frederick could only be thankful Vaike would cover the topics that he himself would never have the gall to address.

Whether that was good or bad... Well, time would tell.

* * *

 

And tell it did. At nineteen years old, Chrom was on the throne. Married. At nineteen, Frederick had been grappling with the fact that Chrom was becoming a man, grappling with the challenge of explaining the many aspects of said manhood to him. How young and naive the two of them had been, completely uncomfortable with the topic at hand. 

At twenty, however, the prince had evidently matured enough to make good of those lessons and see their purpose, for his first child was on the way. Just before his twenty-first birthday, the two men found themselves standing outside of the infirmary, awaiting the birth of the first princess or prince. Nine years after that uncomfortable talk, it was a whole new kind of lecture Frederick found himself giving -- reassuring, encouraging, and not at all uncomfortable. If anything, it was bittersweet.

The young prince, for whom he’d always tried to be the best role model he could be, was now becoming the ultimate role model: a father.

Emmeryn would be proud, Frederick told her precious brother. Her boy had grown into a man, and just the kind she’d wanted him to be. He hoped his former liege watched over them now, and that she was perhaps a bit proud of Frederick’s guiding of Chrom throughout the years.

It hadn’t been an easy task, but it was one he would be glad to do for as long as needed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is actually way longer, but I cut the part with any shipping in it to keep this more neutral. Just sayin', Chrom's awkward supports with Robin tie in pretty well.
> 
> I tried so hard to keep this light, simple and PG considering I don't think any of us wants to read and relive the most uncomfortable hour of our own childhood. Hopefully you got a giggle out of this and not a horrid flashback.


End file.
